President expected to celebrate Navrouz holiday in Panjakent

This year, the main celebrations to mark the Navrouz holiday will take place in the northern city Panjakent on March 21.

President Emomali Rahmon will participate in the Navrouz celebrations in Panjakent, a source in the Tajik government told Asia-Plus in an interview.

Besides, the president will attend the Navrouz celebrations in Bokhtar (former Qurghon Teppa) on March 23 and at the Navrouzgoh Complex in Dushanbe on March 25.

Meanwhile, work on improvement of Dushanbe in the anticipation of celebrations to mark the Navrouz holiday is progressing. In the Tajik capital, the Navrouz celebrations will start on March 21

Celebrations to mark the Navrouz holiday will start in Dushanbe on March 21. Festive concerts will take place in all Dushanbe’s districts, according to the Ministry of Culture (MoC).

A theatrical show will be held at the Navrouzgoh Complex in the evening of March 25.

Navrouz, which literary means New Day in Persian, Dari and Tajik languages, is the traditional Iranian new year holiday, celebrated by Iranian and many other peoples. It marks the first day of spring and is celebrated on the day of the astronomical vernal equinox (the start of spring in the northern hemisphere), which usually occurs on March 21 or the previous/following day depending on where it is observed. Today, the festival of Navrouz is celebrated in many countries, including Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, as well as Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan. Many peoples in West and South Asia, Northeast China, the Crimea, as well as Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia also celebrate this holiday.

In September 2009, the UN's cultural agency, UNESCO, included Navrouz in its list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. On February 23, 2010, the United Nations General Assembly recognized the International Day of Navrouz.